Starting Over
by GiPee
Summary: Danielle is married to Dave Bautista, she finds out that he's cheated on her and she's beside herself. Can she forgive him and move on or are they better off apart?
1. The beginning

"For God's sake Dee, how many fucking times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Dave yelled running up the stairs after his wife. "Baby I love you! I never meant this to happen!" Danielle ran into their room, slamming the door as she went. She put all her strength into that door slam – but the bastard had stuck his foot in the door. It bounced back to her; she caught it just before it hit her and pushed all her weight onto it fighting against Dave on the other side. Finally, it began to close. There was still a gap where Dave was pushing, but she leaned her back against the door, and slowly let herself slide down.

Tears streamed down her face, those silent tears that hurt so much more, those tears that she had learned to keep silent. She wanted to scream, she wanted throw things, worst of all she wanted to hurt herself. It was all happening again – she couldn't cope, she needed to get out, not just away from him, but get away from her feelings.

Dave tried to push into the door, jolting her forward – her face hitting her knee. That did it, something broke inside of her. She began to scream,

"Just fucking leave me alone! Get out of here! I don't want to see you! I hate you right now, just get out!" With every word more tears streamed down her face, her voice cracked, her throat hurt, she felt ill. She continued to cry, not holding anything back.

"Baby I can't leave you, I'm worried about you" Danielle's attention turned to the window to her left. It was an arch shaped window that stretched from the floor to just below the ceiling, with one of those window sills you can sit on. It led, to what is usually a beautiful view of the fields surrounding the house, and in the distance the forest and the rolling hills even further away.

It was raining. The sky was grey, the air was grey and the usually lush green fields that lasted for miles looked dull and washed out. The hills were barely visible through the never ending shower that seemed to surround the building.

She felt the resistance on the door from Dave's body let up, and the door completely closed. Danielle quickly ran to the dresser to grab the keys and swiftly locked door. Dave sighed and buried his head into his hands once he heard the 'click' of the door locking.

"Dee I'm not leaving tonight. I will sleep in this hallway all night if I have to. I don't want to be away from you"

Danielle moved towards the window sill and sat down on a cushion that laid there. Her forehead fell against the window, her tears mirroring the rain outside. The crying had begun to physically hurt, literally gasping for her breath.

What was she going to do? Where was she going to go? Why did he do this? How could she cope? She stood up and looked around the room. She saw the mirror that stood on top of her antique dresser. She sat down on the stool and stared into the mirror, staring straight inside of herself.

Suddenly she began frantically searching though the drawers, opening the top drawer, throwing out all of its contents onto the floor. When she couldn't find what she was looking for she moved on to the next one.

Outside, Dave sat up; he could hear movement and general noise coming from inside the room.

"Dee honey, what are you doing?" She didn't answer, he just heard more drawers slamming and new one's opening.

Realisation suddenly flooded Dave, he stood up and began slamming his fist on the door.

"Baby you don't need to do this! I'm so sorry!" He heard no reply. He threw his weight onto the door, it didn't budge at all.

Danielle heard Dave trying to break through the door. This just added terror to her actions. She had looked through all of the drawers in the room. She looked at the door.

"You fucking asshole!" She screamed, running over to the door, tears overwhelming her again. "You took all of the vodka!"

"Yes! I did, honey I can't stand you doing this to yourself, your so much better than this. I wanted to protect you!"

She started to panic. She didn't know what to do, she needed to get out of here now. She stared to wrestle with the window, willing it to open.

"Piece of fucking shit" She mumbled to her self.

On the other side of the door Dave was getting restless, he could hear movements in the room, he needed to get in there before the love of his life did something she would later regret.

Dave took a run-up to the door, and finally it flew open, a piece of wood flew from the door frame flew across the room and landed on the floor.

The window finally flew open. Realisation overcoming Dave he grabbed her arm before she could go anywhere.

"Let go of me!" Dave pulled her away from the window and pushed her onto the couch in the other corner of the room. Danielle landed with a bounce. Dave quickly closed the window and turned to face her.

"Dee can we just talk?" he asked pacing back and forth in front of the couch where she now sat up, staring into the distance. "Danielle?"

"What do you want to talk about?" Dave sighed sitting down on the bed. He rubbed his eyes before continuing.

"Gee, I don't know, how about this argument?" Danielle looked up at him for a moment, a look of disgust that almost made Dave shudder.

"This is not an argument Dave," She told him, her voice seething. "This is the start of a divorce." Dave shot a look at Danielle, who seemed to be just as much in shock at those words as he was.

"Dee, you seriously can't mean that" He told her kneeling down in front of the couch.

"I don't know what I mean anymore Dave, I can't think straight." She told him walking away and sitting back down on the window sill.

"We can get over this, other couples have, baby I can't live without you, you can't leave me"

"We are not 'other couples' Dave, I can't just get over this. You slept with someone else! A blonde bitchy fucking slut at that!" Fresh tears began to form, "Listen, I can't stay here tonight; I'm going to stay at Lucy's apartment." She said starting to get some clothes together. Dave sighed before speaking.

"Are you still going to come travelling with us?" He asked watching her pack.

"I don't know, I'll think about it." Dave left the room for a brief moment while Danielle threw some more clothes into the bag. Dave walked back into the room holding an envelope.

"Here" He said dropping it on top of the bag she was packing. Danielle slowly opened it. "It's plane tickets. If you want to come, be at the airport by midday." Danielle put the tickets back into the envelope and stuffed it into one of the bag's pockets. She stood up, pulling the strap of the bag up with her, onto her shoulder. She walked past Dave, who was stood helplessly watching her leave. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes" She simply said walking into the large dining room, finding her purse on the table. She checked it quickly making sure that she had everything she needed.

"So this is it then, you're just going?" He asked her as she made her way to the front door, removing her mobile phone and car keys from her purse as she went. Dave followed her closely.

"It certainly seems that way" She replied, hoping the tears wouldn't fall. Danielle opened her car door, threw her bag on the passenger seat and placed her purse on the dash board. She climbed into the driver's seat, and put the keys into the ignition. Dave held the door open. The rain was still falling, soaking Dave.

"I love you" He told her.

"OK," She said, pulling on the door. Defeated he let it shut, and watched her drive away.

'That's it,' he sighed, 'She's gone'. He stood, fixed to the same spot for a few moments. He sighed again, running his hand through his short hair, realising for the first time that he was getting wet. He numbly began to walk back into the house.

The only thought in his mind was her. The pain in her eyes, the tears, the anger… and now the one word ringing in his head – divorce. She wouldn't leave him, she couldn't. Dave looked around the room; the house seemed obscenely large now that she had gone. Dave walked into the kitchen, and grabbed a fresh beer out of the fridge; he opened it, throwing the cap across the kitchen – it finally landed on the worktop across from him.

He knew where Danielle was going, and it definitely wasn't to her best friend Lucy's apartment.

Danielle drove as fast as she could, she didn't know where she was going, or how long for, but she was going to get there fast. The windscreen wipers were going at full speed, but still the water was coming down so fast it was hard to see the car in front. Danielle began to slow down. In the distance she could see a red light; she slowed down further and finally came to a stop.

She looked around and tried to get her bearings, everything looked familiar for some reason, but she couldn't place her finger on it. She saw a bar a bit further down the road, she knew that she shouldn't go in, but still she felt she had too. When the light had turned back to green she moved off and pulled into the bar's car park.

She shut off the engine, and leaned her head against the head rest – deciding whether or not to go in. She opened her door and climbed out, running as fast as she could to the entrance, trying to keep as dry as possible.

As soon as she entered the bar she knew that she had been there sometime before, she didn't remember much of it, but she had definitely been here, she could sense it.

It was a nice place, well it wasn't like the places she was currently getting used to going to, being married to a WWE superstar had its perks. Even if he was one day destined to cheat on you with some cheap backstabbing hoe.

However, compared to some of the low-life hovel bars that she had spent many nights in this was a perfectly good place. She walked over to the bar, and ordered herself a drink.

"I think I'll have a double vodka and coke please" The barman nodded and walked off. She looked around, the bar had a few people dotted around, she assumed they were locals, just out for a quiet drink. She paid for her drink and then found a small table in the corner. She quietly set her purse on the table, and sat down and nursed her drink thinking over everything that was happening to her.

After about her 7th or 8th drink her mobile phone began to ring.

"Hello?" She answered. There was a slight pause before anyone spoke.

"It's Lucy." She smiled slightly, it was her best friend Lucy. She had been there for Danielle no matter what for the last 15 years. She could count on Lucy for anything, they had so secrets, they never lied to each other.

"Hi babes, what's going on?" She replied, the alcohol had the temporary effect of cheering her up.

Lucy paused again before replying.

"Dave rang me; he said you were on your way over here over an hour ago."

"I just stopped off for a moment." Lucy sighed,

"Danielle, which bar are you in?" She tried to remember the name from when she drove in.

"The Corrie Tap" She said, not quite sure why she remembered.

"That's just down the road from me, I'll walk down and pick you up, and I'll drive you back in your car, as I expect you're in no fit state to drive." Danielle sighed.

"I don't need a new mother Lucy"

"You should not be drinking Dani, you know that, so your going to come back to mine so we can sort you out."

"Whatever" Danielle said hanging up her cell phone. She downed the rest of her drink, picked up her bag and quickly began walking out of the bar. She fumbled with her car keys. She wanted to get out of here before Lucy arrived – the last thing she needed tonight was a lecture about her drinking.

No matter how hard she tried she couldn't seem to get her keys to go in the door. When she next looked up she saw Lucy running towards her.

"Danielle **Bautista get your ass away from that car now!" Defeated Danielle held up her hands and moved away. "Oh honey, what's happened to you?" Lucy asked, wrapping her arms around Danielle's shoulders. Danielle didn't do or say anything, she moved further into her friend's arms and began to cry again. Lucy sighed and stroked her friend's hair to at least try and comfort her.**

**"Right Dani," Lucy told her, helping her standing on her own two feet. "Give me your car keys" Danielle dropped the keys into her hands. Lucy unlocked the car, moved her bag from the front seat, then struggled to get Danielle sat down and belted up. She moved around to the driver's seat and began to drive. **

"You know," Danielle said, trying to concentrate on her words. "I thought this area looked familiar. Now I know why!" She said like it had just dawned on her.

"Yes Dani" Lucy said keeping focused on the road. "I've lived here for 2 months now" Lucy wasn't impressed with Danielle's current state. Danielle over dramatically sighed and banged her head on the window. Lucy sighed.

"I haven't seen you this bad in years Dani" Lucy pointed out, "What's happened?" Danielle didn't say anything; she was just concentrating on not being sick. "Dave's really worried about you" Danielle laughed. "What's so funny?"

"He slept with someone else" Lucy pulled into her parking space.

"He did what?!" Lucy asked shocked and surprised, beginning to get out of the car, grabbing Danielle's stuff as she did.

"Yep, with Stacy, that blonde bitch he works with" Danielle spat out 'her' name.

"Well how do you know?" Lucy asked helping Danielle walk to the elevator, the doors opened and Danielle stumbled in. Lucy pressed the correct floor and the girls waited.

"He told me tonight, I've never been so disgusted with him."

"And this is why you're drinking again"

"I'm so sorry, I swear it's only been tonight" Danielle said almost crying again. The elevator doors opened and once again Lucy struggled carrying all of Danielle's stuff – and Danielle herself.

"Don't be sorry honey, we just worry about you." Lucy somehow managed to walk down the hall to her apartment. She opened the door and allowed Danielle to stumble in. "Your going to have to sleep on the couch, is that ok?" Danielle nodded incoherently. Lucy slowly allowed her to drop on to the sofa. "Your bag is just down here ok?" Danielle nodded, already half asleep. "I'll just go and get you a blanket"

Meanwhile, Dave had lost count of how many beers he had drank that night. He leaned back further on the black leather sofa he was sat on, in the background he could hear the television, telling him he should buy some exercise bike, or was it an all in one food blender? He wasn't listening. His mind was still fixed on one thing – Danielle. She could be anywhere, he hoped Lucy had found her. He knew that phoning Lucy would piss Danielle off, but he didn't care. As long as she was safe.

Danielle was a recovering alcoholic. She hadn't had a drink for over a year now, and Dave was so proud of her. He would never forgive himself if he had driven her back there, back to her addiction.

He looked down at his watch, it was 11pm. Dave sighed, and turned over the television channel. He tried to take another sip of his beer, but found it was empty.

"Damn" he muttered, standing up and walking back to the kitchen. Suddenly he heard the phone ring, he ran to where the cordless phone sat on the coffee table. "Dee?" He asked hopefully.

"It's Stacy" With those two words Dave fell back into his coma state. "How are you doing?"

"Stacy I'm not in the mood" He told her staring at the TV.

"Well I am!" She said laughing. That laugh made Dave shudder.

"Stacy leave me the hell alone!" He shouted hanging up the phone. As soon as he had hung up the phone it began to ring again. Dave rolled his eyes. 'This is fucking ridiculous' He thought. "What?" He shouted picking up the phone.

"Dave, it's Lucy" He had never felt such relief at the sound of a person's voice before.

"Lucy, I'm so glad you phoned, you found her then?"

"Yes, she's at mine sleeping now."

"That's great news" He smiled, opening another beer. Lucy paused for a second before continuing.

"You never told me why she was so upset with you" Dave didn't say anything, he knew that Danielle would of told her everything. "How could you?"

"Lucy, it's not how it sounds." He responded weakly.

"You slept with someone else."

"Yes, but I was drunk! I didn't even know I did it until a week later when I was told!"

"Your not supposed to be drunk, your not supposed to be sleeping with other people, your supposed to be supporting your wife!"

"OK Lucy, thanks for the lecture." He said wanting to wrap the conversation up. "But I've got to go"

"Whatever Dave, I hope you can live with yourself." She hung up, looking over at her sleeping friend. She sighed sadly and covered her with a blanket.


	2. Going to Miami

Lucy walked into her living room the next morning to find her best friend sat up rubbing her head.

"Hey" Lucy said sitting down next to her,

"Hi" Danielle smiled weakly. "I'm so sorry about last night; I was in a bit of a state wasn't I?"

"I've seen you worse." She told her pulling her in for a hug.

"That's not the point though. I've totally let every one down!" Lucy leaned out of the embrace to look at her friend for a moment.

"Honey it was one night in over a year! So many people don't make it that far" Danielle sighed again. "I'm surprised that your up this early hon," she continued, "I expected you to be in bed until at least two or three o'clock." Danielle smiled slightly.

"I have somewhere to be" Lucy gave her a weird look. "I'm going travelling with Dave for two weeks"

"You're still going?" Lucy asked looking perplexed. "After everything that's happened?"

"Yes," She replied, looking for her aeroplane ticket in her bag. "He's still my husband, no matter how much he's made me feel like shit." Lucy stood up and took an apple from the fruit bowl on the opposite table.

"I don't care if he is your husband, he shouldn't be treating you like this."

"Yes, I know. But right now I don't want anyone to know that we're having problems, and if I don't go everyone will assume shit" Danielle paused while she stood up, "besides I've already booked the time off work now. I'll go stir crazy in that house by my self." Lucy shook her head, but didn't say anything. Danielle looked at her watch, "Listen, I have to go." She told her friend kissing her cheek. "I'll call you when I get to Miami."

"Ok honey" Lucy said getting up to see her friend out. "Take care of yourself, if you need anything at all; remember any day, any time I'm here for you."

Danielle walked into the crowed airport lounge; she was waiting for her gate to open so she could finally board the flight. She saw Dave and one of his friends, Randy Orton talking on the other side of the room. She quickly decided that she didn't want to speak to Dave, so she continued walking until she found a space that see couldn't be seen.

There were a few chairs around a corner. As soon as she sat down she felt a million times better. She dug out a few more painkillers from her coat pocket, and swallowed them with her bottled water.

Dave was ignoring pretty much everything his friend was saying. He was more concerned on whether his wife was going to be joining him for the next two weeks.

"Dave?" Randy asked clapping his hands in front of Dave's face. He was immediately snapped back to reality.

"What?" He replied annoyed.

"Have you been listening to anything I've been saying?"

"Yeah, of course." Randy nodded, not believing Dave at all.

"OK then, what's going on?" Randy asked him, sensing that something was wrong.

"Nothing is going on," An announcement came over the PA system, letting them know that they could board their plane. "You go ahead" Dave told Randy, "I'll be there in a minute". Randy held up his hands and did what he was told. Something was up, and he was going to make sure he found out what it was sooner or later.

Danielle was beginning to have second thoughts. She thought about the look Lucy gave her when she said she was still going. This probably wasn't a good idea, let people think what they want; it's not worth going though two weeks of hell just to keep up appearances. Danielle grabbed her bag – she had made up her mind, she'd go and stay with Lucy for a while.

Dave walked over to the gate, trying to look over the crowd for his wife. He stood there for what seemed like hours – when he finally saw her over the other side of the lounge, walking in the opposite direction to the gate. Dave began to panic, he had to speak to her and sort this out, and he needed her with him!

"Danielle! Wait!" He shouted running over to her. Danielle stopped to look around at him. "You're here" he stated, not really sure what he should be saying. Danielle looked down at herself.

"Yes I'm here" She concluded. "But not for long, sorry Dave" She started to walk again. Dave couldn't help but notice how she looked. Dark circles under her eyes, pale face, no make-up and hair barely brushed. He knew where she was last night, and he felt awful.

"Dee, please, don't block me out" He paused as she once again slowly turned around, "Just come, you've come all the way to the airport you might as well come to Miami." Danielle thought for a moment. "Please" He pleaded.

"_This is the final boarding call for flight 11543 to Miami"_ A female voice said over the airport PA system. Dave looked at his wife.

"It's now or never honey, please" Danielle rolled her eyes. She was so confused, as much as she wanted to burst out crying and screaming at him, at the same time she didn't want to be away from him, he made her feel safe. He had been there for her though everything. She _couldn't_ lose him.

"OK" She told him, picking up her holdall. She saw the look of relief flood Dave's face. They both started running to the gate, quickly handing over their documents to the attendant stood by the gate.

Danielle struggled to get both her bag and suitcase into the elevator. Dave quickly dropped his stuff to help her.

"I can manage thanks" She said as Dave pushed the button for their floor. Dave didn't say anything.

They went into their room, immediately Danielle dropped her stuff into a corner and began running a bath.

"Dee I'm sorry" Dave shouted to her from the bedroom, "I thought it would be a twin bed room" Danielle sighed, as she put a load of bubble bath lotion into the water.

"That's fine Dave, you can sleep on the floor." She shouted back. Dave dropped his stuff in the opposite corner. He walked around the room for a moment, looking in the mini bar, looking in a few of the draws. He ran his fingers through his hair and groaned loudly.

"I'm going to the gym" He called to the bathroom.

"Fine" She replied.

"I'll see you later then"

"OK" Dave sighed again, before grabbing a towel and some clothes from his bag. He took one last look at the bathroom door before leaving, letting the door slam behind him.

Danielle heard the door slam as she slowly slid into the bath. She hoped the bath would clear her mind, but instead it just allowed her even more time to think. She turned around saw a small waterproof radio. She switched it on and allowed herself to fall asleep.

Danielle was rudely awoken by some banging on the door; she could hear someone shouting for Dave. She slid further into the warm bath, allowing her head to sink beneath the bubbles. When she came up for air the banging and shouting was still continuing. Sighing she stood up, carefully stepping out of the bath, wrapping a towel around herself as she did. She opened the bathroom door,

"OK, hold on a fucking minute" She shouted as she unlocked the door. "Randy," She said, sort of relived it was him. Randy was one of the few people from the WWE that she knew and could talk to. Randy looked quite surprised to see Danielle stood in the door way in front of him.

"Danielle!" He exclaimed pulling her into a hug. For the first time in what felt like days Danielle smiled. "I didn't realise you would be here" He told her breaking the hug to take a look at her. He looked a bit uncomfortable when he saw what she was wearing. "And I didn't realise you would be naked, but whatever floats your boat I suppose" Danielle laughed – actually a proper laugh, and she didn't need to be drunk!

"Come in Randy" She told him still smiling.

"Oh I'm not sure" He said smiling, "What if someone were to spot us? It would be so wrong, but so good" He paused slightly, "OK then, I'll come in!" Danielle was laughing again, and she wasn't thinking about Dave.

"Turn the TV on while you're waiting if you want" Randy nodded as Danielle went back into the bathroom to get rid of the bath water. Randy looked in the mini bar and picked up some crisps.

"Did I interrupt your bath?" He asked as Danielle walked back into the room, now fully dressed towelling her hair.

"Yes, but I wasn't going to say anything." She smiled as she sat down on the bed, taking some crisps from the packet in Randy's had as she did. Randy turned on the TV, and channel surfed until he found the Simpson's.

"Awesome" They both said in unison, they started laughing together.

"So what did you want Dave for?" Danielle asked putting more crisps into her mouth.

"Oh, he seemed to be in piss earlier, I just wanted to see what was up" He got up to the mini bar and took a beer out, "Do you mind?" Danielle shook her head. "Don't suppose you know what's up with him do you?" He asked taking a swig of his beer.

"No" She lied keeping her eyes fixed on the TV in front of her. Randy could tell something was wrong with the both of them, but didn't think it was his place to push the issue further.

"Where is he anyway?"

"Gym"

"Right" He said, both their attention's fixing on the TV.

"So how's work" Randy asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"Its work," Danielle laughed, she was an insurance consultant for a large company, it was stressful, boring and incredibly tedious. She hated it!

"Why don't you get a job you like then? Rather than staying in a dead end you hate?" Randy asked, turning his back on the TV to look at Danielle.

"What job can I get? This is the only job I've ever done! I've got no qualifications." Danielle dropped out of school before she had finished. She had got into the wrong group of friends – and didn't she regret it now? Of course, she's 25 years old, in a dead end job, alcoholic with a cheating husband. Didn't life turn out well for her?

"You should quit work all together," Randy said as he drank some more. Danielle felt slightly jealous. "You could become a lady of leisure." He continued. "Dave could support you" Danielle laughed slightly.

"Yes, because I'll never get bored then, will I?" She said.

"Shut up!" Randy laughed swinging a pillow around so it hit her in the face.

"Nice, Randy, thanks for that" She said brushing off a few crumbs from her top.

"What, no return fire?" Randy asked surprised.

"Just because you're a barbaric wrestler, doesn't mean I am too." She paused slightly, "And anyway I get you back when you least expect it Randy Keith Orton"

"Right, on that note I'm going to love you and leave you" Randy said downing the rest of his beer and putting the bottle on top of the TV. "I've got to be at the arena. Will you be coming down later?"

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe" She told him, standing up to show him out.

"Yeah, well try and get down, we need something to liven it up back there." He told her smiling. "See you later" He kissed her cheek before leaving. Danielle looked at her watch, it was one o'clock.

After drying and straightening her hair, Danielle went downstairs to the restaurant for some late dinner. She would have had room service, but she was so sick of that hotel room she had to get out. Seeing the crowds in the restaurant she quickly changed her mind about eating in. Walking down to the reception she looked for a map, and left the hotel, looking somewhere that sells some food.

She walked into a sandwich shop a little later, ordering then sitting down at a nearby table waiting for it to be made.

"Oh my God, Danielle?!" She heard someone say from behind her. Turning round she saw Shawn Michaels holding a bag of sandwiches. "What are you doing here?" He sounded extremely surprised to see her.

"Just visiting the husband, you know."

"Oh" He said taking the seat next to her. "So you and Dave are alright then?" He asked. Danielle raised an eyebrow, what did he know?

"Yes" She lied, no very convincingly.

"Right, OK, that's good, I'm happy for the both of you." Shawn stood up to leave, "Well I've got to be going now so-"

"Shawn wait," She interrupted, "you know don't you" She said looking at the floor ashamed.

"Dave told me, yeah," He sat back down next to her, "I'm so sorry honey." She was trying so hard to make sure the tears didn't fall, crying in front of her friend is one thing, crying in front of her husband's friends is quite another.

"Who else knows?" She managed to choke out.

"As far as I know no one, he only told me because he needed to get some shit off of his chest." Shawn looked over at Danielle, she was still focused on the floor. "When did he tell you?"

"Last night" Shawn let out a large breath.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I need a drink" She looked up slightly smiling, Shawn smiled too, seeing the humour. Shawn was the only person in the WWE who knew about her alcoholism. Hell, he knew pretty much everything about her and Dave.

"Listen Danielle, I need to get these sandwiches back to the arena. Are you planning on coming to the show later?"

"I think I will" Shawn stood up getting ready to leave.

"Alright," He said enveloping her into a hug "I'll see you later; remember if you need to talk about _anything_ my door is always open for you, OK?" Danielle nodded slightly. Shawn kissed the top of her head and left. She went to collect her sandwich from the counter, rather than sitting in the shop and eating it, she decided to eat it on the way back to her room – the thought of some privacy suddenly very appealing.


	3. The Arena

Later on that night Danielle decided to get a taxi down to the arena. On the way in she picked up her backstage pass that Dave had left for her. She walked through some of the endless corridors, not really sure what she was looking for, she didn't really want to see Dave, and she was sure that most people were too busy getting ready for Raw to talk to her.

After walking around for what seemed like hours she thought she had better go somewhere out of the way. She found someone who looked like they knew where they were and asked for directions to one of the locker rooms.

While Danielle was following these directions she found Randy.

"Hello again Danielle" He said walking down the corridor towards her.

"Hello again Randy" She echoed.

"I'm glad you decided to come down tonight. Are you having a good time so far?" Danielle laughed. Randy pointed to a crate that they could sit on.

"Not really, I'm just trying to keep out of everyone's way." She said jumping up on the box. Randy laughed slightly.

"Ah, the joys of a WWE live show. About a hundred employees running around like lunatics for a few hours"

"Yep, but obviously there's a method to the madness, otherwise it wouldn't be this successful. I just don't want to get caught in the stampede." Randy laughed again.

"You looking for Dave?" The question surprised Danielle a bit, it's understandable, after all they are husband and wife – but all that seemed so distant to her at the moment.

"He's probably doing something important, I don't want to interfere with anything." She told him trying to get out of it. It's weird, she never thought in a million years that she would be trying to avoid her husband.

"Yeah, right, like Dave would ever be doing anything important!" Randy laughed. "Come on, follow me, I'll show you where he is." Randy said jumping off the crate. Danielle didn't move. "Come on" He told her extending his arm to her. She took his hand, and he pulled her down. "I haven't really seen much of him today"

"Neither have I" She said as they began to walk.

"You're so lucky Dani" Randy started.

"What?" She asked stopping in her tracks. "_I'm_ lucky?" She looked down at herself amazed.

"Yes, _your_ lucky, your young, settled, happy, and sorted! I want that, I want a family; I mean you'll always know that no matter what there is someone out there who loves you and is willing to do anything for you. I want that too, I guess I want to get married."

"Jesus Randy" Danielle said surprised. "Who knew that playboy Randy Orton actually wanted to settle down?" She was totally amazed. OK, so she didn't know Randy _that_ well, but she didn't expect him to feel like this.

"Alright, alright, I know it sounds weird, but I do want that. I'm worried that because I'm on the road 24/7 I'm never going to find the right person. Where as you and Dave are sorted" Danielle felt more tears stinging her eyes. She couldn't let them fall, not here, not in front of him.

"Yeah" She agreed, looking anywhere than at Randy.

"Yeah, Dave's one lucky fucker, beautiful wife, dream job, money to spare, great friends" He smiled, "yep, I'm jealous" He laughed.

"OK,"

"Danielle, are you alright?" He asked lifting her chin up, it was no good, the tears fell. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Randy, nothing," She told him wiping her face with the back of her hand. "It's stupid really."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Randy asked sincerely.

"To be honest, no. I'm sorry, I'll deal with it and everything will be ok." She assured him.

"OK, just remember I'm here for you," He rubbed her back. "Right here we are," He told her stopping outside a door. He knocked on it loudly, yelling: "Oi! You had better be decent, I'm bringing a stunning young woman in" An embarrassed Danielle blushed as Randy led her in the room.

Inside the locker room there were a few wrestlers that Danielle didn't recognise, plus, Shawn, Paul Levesque (Triple H) and Dave. In the corner of the room a TV was switched on, with a black leather sofa in front of it, where Paul and Shawn were sat. Dave was looking though his bag for something.

"Danielle Bautista," Paul said standing up. "It's good to see you again." Danielle walked over to the sofa, pretty much ignoring Dave as she did, and sat on the arm saying hello to Paul. They were watching some old wrestling show that Danielle had not seen before. "Do you want anything to drink? We've got some beer down there" Paul offered. Danielle was used to this now, even though it was an innocent offer it was still enough to piss her off. Even little questions like that just reminded her of how stupid she was – and how she drank away a good ten years of her life.

She had started drinking when she was about fourteen years old. It wasn't heavy drinking at first, but it did quickly develop into something out of control. She had so much going on around her that it felt great just to numb the pain. She liked drinking, she liked being drunk, she liked being an alcoholic!

It was Dave and Lucy who made her get professional help. One morning she woke up with yet another hangover, and somehow just decided that they were right – this was beyond her control.

She had known Dave since she was about seventeen, they went out on their first date when Danielle was nineteen, and now she was twenty five and married to him. The conversation with Randy still sat heavy in her mind. I guess in some weird way she was lucky. She did have a husband, good friends, job security, she could just never have a drink again, see her friends from high school, move up the career ladder… Danielle dropped her head into her hands. She was just going around in circles.

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and a soft voice whisper in her ear,

"Hey, are you alright?" It was Shawn. Danielle nodded slightly and brought her head out of her hands. She looked up at the TV and stared at it mindlessly, falling back into her daze.

"DANIELLE!" She heard Shawn shout. Danielle jumped out of her daze, falling straight back to reality. Shawn laughed. "Sorry, but we've been trying to get your attention for about five minutes!" Danielle let out a small laugh. "I was going to ask if you wanted a coffee or anything?" Danielle nodded her head.

"A coffee would be fine thanks Shawn."

"White, three sugars?" He asked, Danielle nodded her head in conformation. A member of the stage crew swung open the door, he was obviously stressed – he looked like he had just ran the marathon.

"Erm, Paul, Ric, Dave," He paused for a moment to look at his clip board. "Shawn and Randy follow me, we are going to shoot segment seven, that's on page ten of your scripts. We are running behind schedule so…" The man's voice faded as he walked down the corridor. Shawn laughed slightly,

"I'll bring you a coffee on the way back, I shouldn't be long" He told her walking out. Danielle looked around the room, it was just her, she was all alone in there. She looked down next to the TV where a box of beers sat. Without even thinking twice, she walked over, picked up the beer, changed the TV channel and led back on the sofa.

"Dave?" Randy asked once again clapping his hands in front of Dave's face. Dave shook his head realising that Randy was actually talking to him. "What's up with you? You've been zoning out on me all day."

"Nothing Randy just leave it" He told him sternly.

"Fine, OK." Randy said, "Listen some of the guys are going out after the show tonight, some karaoke bar or something. Are you up for it?"

"Not particularly." He said walking faster to get away from Randy.

"Fine" Randy mumbled to himself.

"Randy, what's up with Dave?" Paul asked catching up with his friend.

"I don't know" Randy shrugged, "He must just be tired or something, he's not coming out tonight." Paul sighed, a distracted Dave wasn't going to make a good show.

"That doesn't sound like Dave, something must be going on. Maybe I should just go and have a word with him."

"Maybe…" Shawn started, listening in on the two men's conversation. "You should just be concentrating on your own lives rather than gossiping about your mates"

Danielle was on her third or forth beer by the time the guys had come back from filming their segment. She heard the door knob rattle as someone was trying to get in the room, she quickly kicked the empty beer cans under the sofa, then looked behind her as Shawn walked into the room.

"Hey" She said sitting up to let Shawn sit down.

"Hey," He said handing her the coffee he got for her. Shawn wasn't stupid, he knew full well what she was doing before he came in – he had heard the cans. But he wasn't about to bring her up on it.

"That's awesome darling, thanks" She said taking a sip, "How did the segment go?"

"Yeah, it went fine, no real drama I'm afraid"

"Well that's a shame" She pouted, Shawn smiled. They heard some small knocks on the door, and Shawn told the person on the other side to come on in. The first thing Danielle saw was the blonde hair, and that was enough to make her anger boil.

"Hi Shawn" Stacy said, Shawn grabbed Danielle's wrist, stopping her from lunging at Stacy. The last thing that needed to happen was a cat fight. "Paul lent me his hair dryer," She said putting it down on the table next to her, "I was just returning it."

"Thanks Stacy," Shawn said, trying to wrap up the conversation so she would leave before Danielle burst.

"I'll see you around then" She said, looking Danielle up and down. That was about all she could take, she tried to stand up but Shawn somehow managed to restrain her. "Bye!" She said cheerfully walking out of the room. Danielle meanwhile was gritting her teeth trying to keep her composure.

"Bitch" She muttered, "Fucking whore!" She screamed, throwing the nearest thing she could find at the door.

"Calm down Dani, she didn't know who you were," Shawn told her.

"Why did he do it Shawn? I just don't understand." She was more angry than upset now.

Dave walked into the room, throwing something down on top of his bag.

"You alright Dave?" Shawn asked, expecting he'd know what the answer was.

"I'm fucking excellent Shawn," He said, the sarcasm dripping on the floor. "I'm going to the gym until I'm needed next" Shawn stood up, getting ready to go with Dave. "Don't even think about it Shawn, I need to be alone" Shawn put his hand up in the air, letting himself drop back down on the sofa.

"Fuck," Danielle said, dropping her head into her hands, "now he's getting lairy with you too" Shawn laughed a little, wrapping his arm around her.

"Don't worry about it, I'm used to it now, I'll kick his ass later" He kissed the top of her head. Danielle stood up and took her coat from the hooks on the other wall. "Danielle, where are you going?" Shawn asked standing up once again.

"I don't know yet, I've just got to get out of here" Shawn looked into her eyes, "I'm just going for a fucking walk, I don't need to get accused of shit Shawn!"

"Alright, alright" He said with his arms up, "don't have a go! But if you are just going for a walk you won't need your purse will you?" Danielle looked at him dumbfounded.

"You have got to be joking"

"No, I'm not, hand it over" Danielle rolled her eyes walking out of the room. "Danielle get your ass here now!" He shouted after her, making a few people turn around.

"Nice to know you fucking trust me Shawn!" She yelled back, "Just fucking leave me alone!" God, she felt like a stroppy teenager having an argument with her parents. Shawn ran down the hall after her.

"I only do shit like this because I care about the two of you" He told her grabbing her wrist, spinning her around.

"I am not a child Shawn, I am a fucking adult with my own fucking life! I think I am just about capable of making my own fucking decisions!" And that was it, she was walking away. Shawn ran his fingers through his hair, and sighed heavily. He quickly turned around and punched the wall.

"Woah, Shawn are you alright?" Randy asked placing a hand on Shawn's back.

"I'm fucking awesome mate, how are you?" Randy sighed.

"Listen is Danielle OK? I was talking to her earlier and she just broke down crying for no reason." Shawn started walking away, "Hey, are you going to let me know what's going on?" Randy called after him.

"It's none of your business Randy, don't worry about it."

Shawn walked into the gym where Dave was working out. He was talking out all of his aggression on a punch bag in a private room of the gym. Shawn looked down at his hand, it was already starting to bruise. Shaking it lightly he walked towards the room where Dave was beating the crap out of the bag.

He walked in, letting the door slam behind him. Dave heard the slam and looked behind him.

"I thought I told you not to come with me" He said turning back round throwing a few more punches.

"Your wife is out there spiralling back down into addiction, and all you want to do is be left alone in a strop"

"Fuck off Shawn, the last thing I need is you telling me everything I've done wrong" He said in between punches. "I'm perfectly aware"

"Then go and fucking sort it out!" Shawn sighed, "This isn't rocket science you know!" Dave turned around to face Shawn.

"How can I talk to her when she's blocking me out?" Dave went to go and pick up his stuff from the floor, "When I told you about Stacy I didn't want a lecture, I just wanted to get shit off of my chest."

"I've got to hand it to you though Dave," Shawn said ignoring him, "When you fuck up, you fuck up well" Dave rolled his eyes. "She's getting drunk right now you know"

"I know!" He shouted, "I know I've fucked up, but what can I do?"

"Go and talk to her!" He shouted back. Dave laughed.

"It's not that easy Shawn"

"Well what else can you do? Go on, tell me how you can keep your life in tact without talking to her!" Shawn looked at Dave hopelessly "Just go and fucking find her!" he shouted.

"Piss off and mind your own business Shawn, I've had enough" Dave said walking out.


	4. Confrontations

After the show Dave went back to the hotel. He found Danielle asleep on the bed. He dropped his bag on the floor, and walked over to his sleeping wife. He covered her with some blankets and kissed her forehead. She stirred in her sleep and began to wake up.

"Hi" He smiled.

"Hi" She echoed, sitting up. She had a killer head ache.

"I'll turn the light back off if you like" He said, knowing it was aggravating her hangover. He had seen her enough times to know when she was hung-over with out even asking.

"Thanks" He turned the main light off and turned on a dimmer lamp on the desk. "Good show?" She asked.

"It was alright" She smiled slightly, even though there was nothing to particular to smile about.

"Where did you go?"

"You know where I went" he nodded.

"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault"

"Yes" She agreed. He sat down on the bed next to her. Danielle kept her eyes fixed on the wall in front of her. "Why have you started drinking again?"

"You hurt me, alcohol numbs the pain" She stated like it was simple.

"I never meant to hurt you" He said placing his hand on her leg. Danielle quickly pulled it away from him. "I'm so sorry" Danielle refused to look at him. "I love you." She snapped her head around.

"When why the fuck did you do it?" He looked down at his hands.

"I was drunk. I don't even remember it. I'm so sorry." Danielle laughed.

"That's a fucking awesome excuse Dave!" She said spitefully, "I was an alcoholic for the first five years of our relationship, I was drunk every day and night! But I managed to stay off my back!" She shouted.

"I know!" He shouted back

"And do you know why? Because I loved you!"

"Yes I know, I know! And I love you!" He was still shouting.

"So what's the real reason then?" She asked, the tears were welling up in her eyes again. It seemed like all she had done for the last two days was cry.

"I don't know, there is no real reason. I just missed you I guess, I missed being close to you."

"So this is my fault." She stated.

"No, God," He sighed, standing up. He rubbed his head before continuing, "that's not what I meant, I don't know why I did it. It was a drunken mistake, we all make them" He sighed, walking over to the window.

"Is that a dig at me?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" He said turning round, "Damn it! Stop twisting my words!"

"I'm not twisting your words Dave! I'm just trying to understand! I don't know why this happened, I thought we were happy!"

"We were!" He shouted. "I'm sorry that's all I can say"

"I don't think 'sorry' is going to smooth all this over Dave." She told him rubbing her temples.

"So where do we go from here?"

"I don't know, I can hardly stand to look at you right now"

"You can't mean that"

"Believe me I do, whenever I look at you all I see is you and her together-" She gave an involuntary shudder.

"Just don't think like that" He told her sitting back down on the bed. "I know we can get through this, we are stronger than her, I know it"

"This is the thing Dave, it's her!" Dave looked at her confused, "I can't trust you anymore, you are away from me three or four days a week," She paused to move further away from him. "And does _she_ live in some far out corner of the Earth? No! You fucking work with her and will see her for that entire time you're away from me, I can't have that hanging over my head, I can't be at home alone wondering what the hell your up to. I just can't trust you anymore."

"What can I do to make this all go away Dee?" Danielle laughed again.

"Well short of going back in time and not doing it… Nothing"

"You do still love me don't you?"

"I don't know Dave" Dave looked at Danielle for a few moments before walking out onto the balcony.

"How can you not fucking know?" He asked me, "You either do or you don't" He looked over at me, "I'm fucking fed up with this, you just get fucking drunk, you don't talk to me, look at me, I can't deal with this shit Danielle!"

"And you think I can! Do not turn this on me! This is not my fucking fault! You're the one who decided to throw our four year relationship down the drain. You threw all of the love, trust, support, even our friendship away when you screwed that bitch." Danielle got out of bed and began to get dressed. "Do you know what? I can't even stand to be in the same room of you"

"Where are you going now?" Dave asked her, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know, another hotel room, another hotel, fuck it – why not another fucking country?" She picked up her cell phone from the bed side cabinet. "Whatever you do, do not fucking call me." Danielle told him opening the door.

"Thanks it Dee… fucking run away!" Dave shouted slamming the door after her. He picked up one of the lamps and threw it against the wall.

Danielle was sat down in the hotel lobby, wondering what she was going to do now. All she had was her cell phone. She couldn't pay for a hotel room, and she sure as hell couldn't go back to Dave tonight. She sighed deeply into her hands.

"This is such bullshit" She muttered to herself, rubbing her head. She heard a load of loud voices walking into the hotel reception behind her. She didn't bother to look, instead she just sank deeper into the leather sofa, working out her options.

Randy, Ric, Paul and a few other wrestlers had just gotten back into the hotel, laughing at a story Ric was telling them.

"Well guys, I'm heading off to bed" Ric told them pressing the 'call' button for the elevator. "Enjoy the rest of your night" He said as the doors opened. The other men muttered some 'byes' and some 'good nights' before the doors closed.

"Hey Randy, are you heading up to the bar?" Paul asked him, pushing the button for another elevator.

"Yeah" He answered, distracted as he noticed Danielle sat down rubbing her forehead. "Get me a drink in and I'll join you in a minute" Paul nodded, oblivious to what Randy was looking at, as he and the other wrestlers got into the lift. Once he was sure they were all gone, he walked over to Danielle. "Hey" He said. She looked up, smiling briefly at him then sinking her head back down. Randy sat down on the sofa next to her. "Are you alright?" She nodded, never looking up. "Where's Dave?" Thinking on her feet she answered:

"Oh, he's upstairs asleep, I didn't want to wake him." Randy raised an eyebrow, but refused to question her about it.

"OK, are you sure you're alright?" Again she nodded. He stood up, not taking his concerned eyes off of her. "You know a few of us are heading up to the bar now, do you want to join us?" She winced slightly at the word 'bar'. She had already drank enough for one night, well for one lifetime really, but one more drink really couldn't hurt her. Plus, it wasn't like she had any other place to go right now.

"Sure, thanks Randy" She told him standing up. Randy smiled as he took her up to the bar.

As they walked in they immediately noticed some of the guys taking over two or three tables. Randy motioned for her to sit down.

"Go and sit by Paul, I'll get your drink in, what do you want?" A tiny part of her wanted to answer 'lemonade' but the rest was screaming 'vodka!' unfortunately at the moment, this part of her always seemed to win.

"Vodka and coke would be awesome" Randy smiled,

"Come on, have a cocktail, live a little" She had already lived a lot. He handed her the drinks menu, her eyes skimmed over it briefly and she saw exactly what she wanted.

"Go on then," She forced a smile, "I'll have a sex on the beach."

She left Randy to go and sit down, they were all heavily in conversation about something or other – Danielle couldn't have cared less.

"Guys" Paul said, getting everyone's attention around the tables, "You all remember Danielle, Dave's wife" It took all of her self control not to cringe at the word 'wife'. She smiled and waved at the men surrounding the table as they said their 'hellos'

Randy walked towards their table carrying a sex on the beach cocktail for her and a pint of beer for him.

"Thanks" She smiled as she began to drink. She closed her eyes for a moment, it had been well over a year since she had last had her favourite cocktail.

"Are you enjoying that?" Randy asked sarcastically as a large smile spread across her face.

"You have no idea" She replied taking another sip. "Thanks again Randy"

"It's no problem, I always like to help a damsel in distress." He dragged a seat from across the bar, placing it next to Danielle, forcing the other guys around the table to shuffle their chairs.

Dave suddenly sat up in bed.

"Fuck this" He muttered out loud to himself. Hours of tossing and turning in bed weren't doing anything – there was no way he was going to get any sleep tonight, no matter how much he tried. He was worried about his wife. She's a beautiful, young, intelligent woman, and right now she was probably drunk in some low-life bar, surrounded by low-life men who would have no problem in taking advantage of her vulnerability.

He turned on the lamp, suddenly illuminating the dark room. He immediately saw his mobile phone on a nearby desk. He reached over, picking it up, staring at it for a few seconds, wondering whether or not to call her.

'Calling her will only make her angrier, just leave her to it' one part of him argued.

'She could be anywhere right now, just call to make sure she's ok, she'll be happy to know you still care' another part argued back.

Making a split second decision he quickly started to dial her number before he changed his mind.

Before he had even finished dialling the number, his phone began to vibrate and flash. He looked down at the caller id.

It was Stacy.

Shaking his head, he threw the phone at the wall – but instead it landed on the sofa. Dave stood up and started pacing around the room, he kicked the wall hard, and swore as he felt the pain shoot up his leg.

Randy and Danielle were the only people left in the bar. Randy was telling her a story about something, she wasn't really listening, she was too busy concentrating on not falling off of her chair.

"Are you alright Dani?"

"Yep, a tiny bit drunk though" She replied, her head falling into her arms.

"OK, well let's try and get you upstairs" Randy said putting an arm around her to try and help her. Randy laughed a little, "It would help if you co-operated with me!"

"No!" She shouted. "I don't want to go up there!" Randy looked slightly confused.

"Well why not?"

"Dave can't see me drunk, he gets mad" She said lifting her head out of her hands to try and focus on Randy's face.

"Well where are you going to go tonight?"

"Well here's good" She said as her head fell on the table. Randy laughed again.

"Come on Dani, you can't stay here." He picked her up, this time actually lifting her up to carry her. "If you really don't want to go back to your room you can stay with me for tonight."

"Oh, I don't think Dave will like that much either."

"It's alright, you can sleep on the floor" he joked, "Dave will be fine with it" Before she knew it, her and Randy were in the elevator. "I'm going to put you down for a minute. Do you think you will be able to stand ok?" He felt her nod against his chest, so he carefully placed her on the floor so she could lean against the wall.

"Thanks Randy, for everything" She slurred, trying to keep her head up.

"It's no problem" He smiled.

She swayed slightly from side to side, when suddenly she almost went flying across the lift. Randy quickly darted out to catch her. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm going to stay like this" He said, "That way you can't fall anywhere with taking me with you" Danielle wrapped his arms around him too. Randy felt slightly uncomfortable stood in a lift holding one of his friend's wives, so he was slightly relived when the doors opened. Deciding that she couldn't walk, he picked her up again, making sure that nobody was around – rumours start quickly in the WWE.

He managed to get her though the door, and he slowly placed her on the bed, but she held on to him, and he landed on top of her.

"Randy, I'm a stupid pathetic drunk"

"No you're not Danielle," he said trying to get her into bed. "You'll be fine; you've just got to sleep this off" Randy found one of his t-shirts and helped her get changed. He couldn't help but admire her body. Immediately snapping out of it he tucked her into bed again.

"Randy? Can you talk to me for a while?" Randy looked over at her in bed. He ran his hand though his short hair and sighed quietly.

"Sure" He replied.

Dave looked down at his watch. 6am, she still wasn't home, and Stacy was still trying to phone him. He didn't want to turn off his phone in case Danielle tried to phone him – but even if she did try, she wouldn't be able to get through thanks to Stacy's constant phoning.

Getting pissed off, he walked across the room.

"What the fuck do you want now?"

"Same as ever – you" She replied, knocking on his door.


	5. The Longest Night Ever

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Randy asked sitting down on the chair next to the bed. Danielle rolled over onto her side to face Randy. She smiled slightly.

"I don't know," Shereplied.There was a small silence between them as she thought, "tell me about you" Randy laughed quietly. He leaned back on his chair, resting his feet on the side of the bed.

"What do you want to know about me?" he asked, placing his hands behind his head. She thought about the question for a few moments before answering.

"Tell me about when you were younger" Randy took his feet off of the bed and sat up in his chair. "I mean, it must have been different, growing up as the son of a WWE superstar." She continued. Randy looked thoughtful for a short while, thinking it over.

"Yeah, I guess it was different in a way." He started, "I travelled a lot with my dad when I was younger, not many kids get to see their heroes from TV on a weekly basis. And I guess it's not normal for a kid to sit down and have dinner with Andre the giant and Hulk Hogan every-so-often." Danielle laughed quietly.

"Would you be doing this if your dad wasn't 'Cowboy' Bob Orton?"

"I don't know, I mean I've loved wrestling ever since I can remember, but if my dad wasn't a superstar, then I probably wouldn't be here right now, he gave me the foot in the door that I needed." He paused for a minute as he made sure Danielle was still awake, he brushed the few strands of hair out of her face, the contact making her eyes slowly flutter open. "I'm a very lucky man" He told her, removing his hand from the soft skin of her face, to lean back in his chair. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "So, why don't you tell me about your childhood?"

Meanwhile, in Dave's hotel room, the banging on the door still continued. Dave finally opened the door, startling Stacy on the other side. Regaining her composure, she smiled, and ran a finger down his chest,

"It's about time," She said trying to walk into the room. Dave stood in her way, not allowing her any further in. "Dave what's going on?" She asked almost laughing. Dave walked her back to the door.

"This is really pathetic Stacy" He told her, "That one night was a mistake, I'm _married_" He told her holding up his left hand, showing her his wedding ring.

"Come on Dave," She said, taking his hand and running it down his chest. "I know that stupid little ring means nothing really" Dave snapped his hand back from her grasp.

"This means everything to me!" He told her, holding his hand up again, "I love Danielle more than anything else on this planet!"

"Oh really?" Stacy questioned, leaning against the door frame. "If you love this woman so much why were you on my door step that night almost begging for me-"

"It was a fucking mistake Stace!" He interrupted.

"And if you love her so much, why were you complaining to me abouthow much she emotionally drained you, and you couldn't carry on with her-"

"I was upset, it happens!" He interrupted again.

"Face it Dave, your marriage is over! I'm just offering you a way out"

Dave looked at her for a few moments, the full force of this sentence cut him like a knife.

"Get the fuck out of here, I never want to lay eyes on you again!" He told her pushing her so hard she fell back and hit the opposite wall of the hotel corridor. "Maybe I have fucked up my marriage, but I am going to do everything humanly possible to get her back."

"What's so fucking special about a washed up, alcoholic, bitch who can't hold on to her husband?" Stacy hissed, as she slowly stood up from the floor, checking the back of her head for signs of blood.

"I don't know Stacy, but I do know that even with all of her flaws, she's still worth ten thousand of you." Dave slammed the door with so much force the walls down the corridor shook slightly.

"What do you want to know about my childhood for?" Danielle asked sitting up in the bed. Randy stood to catch her, in case she fell.

"I told you about mine" He reasoned, sitting back in the chair.

"Yeah, but mine is slightly different to yours." She saw a bottle of water on the bed side table and tried to reach out for it. Misjudging the distance between her and the bottle she fell to the floor, swearing as she realised what a fool she was making of herself. Randy picked her up, placing her on the bed, this time however, more towards the centre of the bed.

"In what ways was it different to mine?" Randy continued, realising it was probably best to keep her talking while she was in this state.

"Well, I didn't have dinner with any WWE superstars for starters." Randy quietly laughed with her for a few moments.

"Well yeah," Randy agreed, "but that's because I'm special and your not" He joked.

"Yeah, right, you're special." She agreed sarcastically. "If you really want to know I'll tell you, I just don't want to bring down the mood." Randy motioned for her to continue. There was no way her childhood could be as bad as she was making out…

"Well, firstly I didn't have a father, he ran off when I was small, I don't even remember him. My mum and I never really talked about him. When I was young I remember asking her abouthim once, and her answer didn't make me want to everask her about itagain. Anyway, I was a only child, me and my mom became more like friends rather than mother and daughter. I could get away with pretty much anything I wanted… and I used it to my advantage. From then on it's all pretty mucha blur, mom lost her job, we became poor, I got kicked out of school, I met Dave, blah blah blah" Randy let out a loud sigh. "That's the basics of it anyway,"

"That's rough" Randy commented.Danielle shrugged.

"You get used to it," She smiled. "Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all doom and gloom, I had some good mates, and some good laughs along the way. It just wasn't the ideal situation."

"I bet," Randy rubbed his hands over his head. "What about you and your mom, are you two still good friends?" Danielle shook her head.

"She died about five years ago" Randy looked at her shocked. "Look," She said standing up and sitting on the arm of Randy's chair. "We're both upset now. I told you it would change the mood." Randy forced a smile,

"No it hasn't, we're just drunk" Danielle tried to stand up, to get another drink out of the mini bar, unfortunately, her legs weren't co-operating, and instead she just slid down the arm of the chair onto Randy's lap.

"I don't think we're drunk enough" She reasoned. "There's a perfectly good mini bar over there" She said pointing in some direction. Randy laughed at her lack of co-ordination.

"I think you've had enough for one night Danielle." He laughed as she shook her head. "You're going to do yourself some serious damage if you're not careful" Randy warned. Danielle began laughing.

"It's a bit late for that now Randy" she told him, burying her head into his shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked picking her head up, so she was looking into his eyes.

"Nothing, don't worry about it" She told him, trying to look away, but Randy wouldn't let her. So instead she just closed her eyes. The silence seemed deafening between them; Danielle opened her eyes, just to find herself staring into Randy's again.

"I worry about you, you're more to me than my workmate's wife, you're my friend too" He re-assured her.

"Yeah, I know, and you're more to me than my husband's workmate, you're a friend to me too" She paused slightly, "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here right now, would I?"

"Why are you here right now?"

"I don't want to face Dave right now," She told him honestly.

"But why not?" Randy persisted. "I mean, you two are usually inseparable, but anyone looking in now would be surprised that you two even knew each other, let or lone that you are married."

"Randy do we have to talk about this?" Randy was a little taken back by how annoyed she was getting with this line of conversation.

"No, no, of course not" He told her, stroking her back underneath her shirt.

Dave looked around his hotel room, once he had calmed himself down.

"Holy shit" He muttered to himself. The room had been completely trashed. Picture frames, vases, windows, lamps had all been broken. There was a large hole in the wall above the bed where he had thrown something. Everything had been broken, the glass of the TV had been smashed, the wardrobe doors had been ripped off,the whole room could only be described as a mess.The only part of the room that was fine was the bathroom. That hadn't been touched.

He opened the balcony doors, breathing in the cool fresh air. He looked over and saw a chair to his right. Walking back into the room, he grabbed the blanket and decided tosleep on the balcony.

Randy and Danielle remained sat on the arm chair. Danielle's head had once again found the comfortable spot between Randy's shoulder and neck. He could feel her soft, warm breaths on his neck. His hand was still on her back, the other now rested on her thigh.

Danielle let out a small moan as she moved on Randy's lap. Randy's head snapped up, suddenly he realised that he was attracted to this woman – but this wasn't any woman, this was his friend's wife! Randy mentally screamed at himself to get this woman off of him, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"This is nice" She whispered in his ear. Randy closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on anything other than this beautiful woman on his lap. "Randy?" She asked looking up, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course I am" He replied opening his eyes to look down at her, as soon as he did their eyes locked, and Randy found his hand moving up her thigh. "Listen Danielle-" He started,

"Kiss me Randy" She interrupted him, before she even had a chance to think about what she had just said, Randy had leaned down and captured her lips in a soaring kiss… the kind of kiss that you only saw in the movies… the kind of kiss that could get out of hand very quickly… the kind of kiss that she should be having with her husband.

Shit… Dave.

She had completely forgotten about her husband.

"Randy," She said breaking the kiss.

"Yeah, yeah, I know" He replied breathless, "It's Dave" Danielle nodded. "Listen I'm really tired, and you must be too, why don't you take the bed, and I'll sleep on the floor."

"Randy, you don't have to do that" She insisted.

"No really I do, after that kiss there is no way I can share a bed with you" Danielle smiled. Randy picked her up again and tucked her into bed. "Sleep tight" He told her kissing her forehead. But even an innocent action like this seemed to end them up in trouble. Before they knew it, they were both kissing again.

Never breaking the kiss, Randy managed to move so he was lying on top of her.

Coming to his senses before she did, he stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

"This is going to go too far if we're not careful." Randy warned.

"Would that be so bad?" Danielle asked sitting up.

"No, I mean yes!" He corrected himself, "You're fucking married Dani!"

"Yes, I am aware of that!" She shouted. "Listen just get into bed, we are two mature adults, we can share a bed without anything happening." Randy looked around the room, the floor didn't look that inviting, the bed however… His mind drifted away.

"OK, OK," He agreed, getting into the bed. They both moved about for a few minutes, trying to find some comfort in this awkward situation, before they both drifted off to sleep.


	6. The Morning After

Danielle sighed rolling over in bed, waking up Randy as she did so.

"Good morning" He muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Danielle looked over him, he was still fully dressed, however, she was only wearing one of his t-shirts.

"Morning" She replied, also sitting up. She had a splitting headache, and then suddenly the nausea hit her. As a reflex reaction, she found herself running to the bathroom – slamming the door shut behind her.

Randy couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the situation, he thought she could hold her drink a bit better than that.

"Dani, are you alright in there?" He asked fiddling with the door knob – finding it was locked.

"Yeah," She managed to call out, between heaves, "Yeah I'm fine."

"Do you want anything, some food, water-"

"No I'm fine" She interrupted. "I'll be out in a minute" Randy decided to leave her to it, and carry on getting changed. His mind kept drifting back to the night before, obviously she was more drunk than she was letting on, plus it seems that her and Dave are having problems at the moment, Randy doubted that she could even remember that heart stopping kiss, let-or-lone want it to ever happen again. He told himself over and over again just to forget about her.

Danielle emerged from the bathroom, not looking her best. Her skin was pale, hair ruffled, and eyes watering.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Randy asked her again. "Maybe you should stay in bed for a while, you know, sleep it off" She walked over to the mini bar; Randy assumed she was looking for something to eat, but Danielle had different ideas.

"Listen, Randy. I know my body, and I know I'll be fine in a bit" She assured him, grabbing two beers from the fridge and opening one.

"It's a bit early for that isn't it?" Danielle almost completely downed one bottle before she replied.

"It's only the 'hair of the dog', you know, do you want some?" She asked, handing him a beer. Randy shook his head. Danielle finished off the first beer, and then started on the second – this one she drank a bit slower.

Randy walked around the room, picking up her clothes from the floor and handing them to her. She smiled slightly in acceptance, and took her clothes and beer into the bathroom. As soon as the door had closed behind her, Randy collapsed on the bed, putting his head into his hands.

Randy gave an audible sigh, what the hell is going on? One minute this woman was so ill she couldn't stop throwing up, and now… now she was downing bottles of beer. Against his better judgement he picked up the hotel room phone and typed in Dave's room number.

"Hi Dave it's Randy, listen I just wanted to let you know that Dani stayed here with me last night," He said once Dave had answered the phone. "She's perfectly safe, I was going to phone you last night, but she said that you were asleep, and I didn't want to disturb you" he lied.

"How is she?" Randy sighed again at his friend's question.

"She's in a bit of a state, she was pretty wasted last night," This time it was Dave's turn to sigh.

"Well thanks for letting me know what's going on, and thanks for looking after her," Dave said.

"Yeah no problems, I'm sure she'll be back in your room in a bit, I just wanted to give you a heads up." Randy paused, he was lying through his teeth to one of his best friends, how the hell did he get himself into this situation? "I'll see you later at the arena" Randy told him, wrapping up the conversation. "Bye"

As soon as he had hung up Randy's head fell back into his hands. He rubbed his eyes, trying to make some sort of sense of the situation. That one phrase reverberating around his head: 'thanks for looking after her' He was supposed to be making sure she was safe, and instead he ended up almost fucking his friends' wife.

Danielle emerged from the bathroom, looking one hell of a lot better. She had some colour back in her cheeks, and had re-done her hair. She did still look quite shaky though. Randy sat up on the bed to look at her,

"How are you feeling now?" Randy asked, feeling it was a stupid question.

"Not perfect, but I'll be fine" Danielle smiled for a instant before looking down at the floor, "Thanks for being there for me last night, it meant a lot"

"It was nothing," He assured her.

"No, it wasn't," She told him, moving across the room to sit next to him on the bed. "I know how tired you were, and I know the last thing you wanted to do is stay up half the night and chat to me" She smiled; Randy was beginning to love that smile.

"Like I said, I just like to help damsels in distress" He replied cockily. Danielle laughed,

"Whatever!" She said punching him lightly in the stomach, "I'll leave you to get some sleep." She told him getting up, and walking towards the door.

"Dani?" Randy asked, also getting up from the bed, following her to the door, Danielle turned round to face him. Randy thought carefully about how to phrase his next question. "How much do you remember from last night?" The confused expression that filled Danielle's face answered his question for him.

"I don't know, I guess we were chatting for a bit, and then I fell asleep?" She shrugged. "Why did something happen?" Randy opened the door for her letting her out,

"Nah," He replied, "Don't worry about it, I was just wondering" He was fucking lying again! "I'll see you later?" He asked hopefully.

"Course" She smiled, his heart almost melted. She leaned up again, giving him a hug, "Thanks again for last night" She whispered in his ear. "See you later" She told him walking out of the room, in search of the elevators.

Randy closed the door behind her muttering "fucking hell" before trying to get some more sleep.

As Danielle was leaving Randy's hotel room, Shawn happened to be walking by. As soon as he saw her, he stopped in his tracks to take a look at the hotel room she had just come from.

"Hey Danielle" He greeted her cautiously. "What's going on? It's a bit early in the morning to be making visits isn't it?" Danielle just rolled her eyes.

"Stop that" She smiled

"Stop what?" Shawn asked completely confused.

"Stop trying to be my dad" She told him walking away. Shawn doubled checked the number on the hotel room door before following her down the corridor.

"I'm not trying to be your dad, I'm just trying to prevent you from making any more mistakes" Shawn paused for a moment, rubbing the back of his head, "looks like I was too late" he sighed. Danielle stopped walking – dead.

"You what?" She asked turning on the spot to face Shawn.

"Come on Danielle!" he said looking back up the corridor towards _that_ hotel room. "I find you leaving Randy Orton's hotel room at ten AM wearing the clothes you were wearing yesterday" He told her flicking her jacket, "you don't have to be a mathematician to add two and two together."

"You have got to be joking" She began walking away from Shawn at a faster pace, when she finally got to the elevators she hit the 'elevator call' button so hard she was sure it was going to leave a dent. "It's nice to know you trust me Shawn!"

"It's not that Danielle, but your upset right now," He told her holding her hands, "People don't think right while their upset, and I'll tell you now, Randy may seem like a nice guy but he wouldn't think twice about stealing someone else's wife" Danielle sighed, praying to God that the elevators would hurry up.

"Randy isn't like that Shawn! We're just friends," Shawn let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Randy doesn't know the meaning of the word!" Danielle rolled her eyes as the elevator finally arrived.

"Last night I was upset and alone, and the last person I wanted to see was Dave, where the hell else was I supposed to go?" She shouted walking into the lift.

"Come and fucking talk to me! I'm here for you!" He told her keeping the elevator doors open with his foot.

"Shawn I am not in the mood for this, just let me go" She told him, kicking his foot. Shawn sighed, holding up his hands. As the doors closed she watched Shawn kick a bin, while storming off down the hall.

Danielle sighed and leaned her head against the wall of the elevator. She muttered some obscenities to herself while waiting for her floor to arrive on the flashing red screen. She couldn't believe that Shawn had shown a complete lack of trust in her.

Finally arriving at her floor, she walked out, trying to remember which room she was supposed to be sharing with Dave. Making an educated guess, she lightly knocked on one of the doors.

Dave immediately swung open the door, looking down at the woman before him. He was ready for a fight; he thought it could only be one of two people, either Shawn, who wanted to give him some more 'advice', or Stacy, who just wanted another pop at him.

But, he never even considered that it could be Danielle stood there. He looked over his shoulder, watching the mess in the room for a few moments, before turning back round to look at his wife.

"Hi, I didn't expect you" He hesitated. "How are you?"

"Not too bad" She said pushing past him and walking into the room.

It took a few moments for the entire state of the room to sink in. She stood glued to the same spot on the floor, just looking in amazement at everything that was broken, battered, or ruined.

"What the hell happened here?" She asked, a bit sharper than she intended. Dave smiled a little, rubbing the back of his neck, for the first time in what seemed like ages, she had spoken to him with an emotion in her voice other than anger or disappointment. It sounded like she was amused by the situation.

"I had a few accidents" Dave lied, trying to clear up some torn clothes on the floor.

"It shows" She said, still looking around, "it shows that you're a bad liar. Did you do this? Or were you in another fight?" She asked him taking the clothes out of his hands and throwing it back on the floor into a pile. Dave just stared at the pile for a moment.

"I did it" He looked around the room some more, "How much do you think its going to cost me?" Dave asked her. Danielle let out a breath of air, for once she was calling upon the useless information she learnt from her insurance job, and applying it to something useful.

"I don't know," She said looking around the room, "The TV alone is probably anything up to 800, then there's the pictures, the window, the wardrobe," She made a mental list, but then something made her stop dead in her tracks, "What the hell is this on the carpet?" Dave knelt down beside her, looking at the mysterious stains on the floor that seemed to also creep up the walls and over the bed.

"I don't know," He shrugged, "Probably came from the mini bar" Danielle turned to look at the mini bar, the door had be torn off and the contents spilled out over the floor. She sighed again.

"Ok, so the TV, wardrobe, carpet cleaning, new mini bar, mini bar contents, other little bits" She paused to add everything up in her head "I guess your looking at about three grand or so" She told him picking up the mini bar door. "Plus, add on a bit extra because you're a wrestler and they know you've got money" Dave raised his eye brows, "They'll take you for everything they can"

"Holy fuck, three grand" Dave said, almost admiring his work. Suddenly he remembered something. "Does that include the hole?"

"The what?" Danielle replied bemused.

"I might have made a small hole" Dave said moving a carefully placed picture from the wall.

"A small hole?" Danielle questioned. "That's bigger than a basket ball!" She laughed. Dave started to laugh too. They always used to be able to do that, no matter how bad the situation they would somehow find a funny side.

"How much?" Dave asked her again.

"Do you want the truth?" She asked, rubbing her temples, Dave nodded, "I think that you should cover up that hole, pack up our stuff, leave a check for 4000 at reception then leave the state"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. You do know that this is an offence? So unless you want to re-mortgage our house to pay all the fines and repairs, we should go." Just then there was a knock at the door. Dave's heart was in his throat, if Stacy was behind that door she could ruin the very small improvement Dave and Danielle had just made in a single heart beat. Danielle saw the look of near terror on Dave's face, "Who is it?" She called out, feeling brave.

"Danielle? It's Shawn." He called from outside.

"Shit" They both said looking at each other. "You stall him, I'll clean" Dave whispered to her.

"How the fuck are you going to clean this room while Shawn is outside?" She asked him seriously.

"If it helps you open the door any quicker," Shawn shouted from outside, "I know the room is trashed, Dave"

"How the fuck…" Dave trailed off opening the door.

"I covered your ass down in reception earlier," He told them entering the room, "I was there when one of the house keepers were complaining about the state of the room" Shawn looked around and whistled, "You did a pretty good job too" He told him sarcastically, slapping him on the back. "Apparently the house keeper took one look at this room and walked right back out" Shawn laughed.

"Quit the jokes Shawn" Dave said shaking off Shawn's arm, "How much do they want?"

"Based on what the house keeper saw earlier," Shawn paused, not sure how Dave was going to take the news "Five thousand" Danielle spat out her water.

"Dollars?" Dave asked

"Yes dollars you idiot!" Shawn shouted.

"Fucking hell" Dave muttered, trying to find his check book "and that house keeper probably didn't even see the hole" He whispered to Danielle.

"Danielle, why don't you take a shower? Me and Dave need to talk" Danielle looked over at Dave.

"Seriously Shawn, I am his wife, not a child" She said coldly, walking into the bathroom.

"Then fucking act like it" Shawn mumbled to no one in particular. "Listen Dave," Shawn started.

"No Shawn, you listen to me for once" Dave said interrupting him. "I am fed up to the fucking back teeth of you sticking your nose in where it's not wanted." Dave told him, walking over to Shawn. "Me and Dee will sort out our problems in our own time, we don't need know-it-all Shawn Michaels to come in and sort them out for us!" Shawn opened his mouth, like he was about to say something, but Dave cut him off, "I admit, at various times we have come to you for advice, but right now we need time to think, not you coming in every two seconds dictating what we should do!"

"So what are you saying Dave?" Shawn asked, slightly angry than after everything he was doing to try and help this young couple they are throwing it back in his face.

"I'm saying that next time we need your help, we'll ask for it, we don't need to be your good deed for the day" Shawn let out a breath of air.

"Well it sounds like you've got it all figured out, marriages are hard enough to negotiate when you haven't cheated" Dave rolled his eyes at this comment, "but I'm sure you two will be fine. Why in the world would you need _my_ advice? Someone who's had over twenty years more experience of being in relationships, but of course, you know it all" Shawn said slapping his chest. "Good luck"

A/N: I don't usually do these, but I just wanted to thank you all for all of the reviews, I know the story is quite boring and repetitive at the moment (with Danielle getting drunk every two seconds) but there will be some drama coming soon… I promise! Thanks for reading, I'm really enjoying writing this story, it just seems to be writing it's self at the moment, which is never a bad thing!


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